Therapy advice to put in your pocket and take with you.

Posts tagged ‘Hardship’

She hid alone in the dark, in her closet and she cried. She prayed to God, Why Me? Haven’t I been through enough? I can’t handle it. I just can’t. It’s too much. But God was quiet.

She was angry. She was confused. Everything felt out of control. All that she had worked so hard for in her life seemed to be slipping through her fingers. She was always a survivor. She was tough. But she didn’t feel any of that today. Today she just felt tired. Physically and emotionally tired.

She had so many questions, there were so many unknowns. Truth be told, she was scared. And where God had been her guide in the past, she felt His absence now. Or did she? Was He here? Did this have a purpose? Was He trying to tell her something? She was reluctant because this would be her hardest journey yet. But she realized something.

If God asked her to bear this burden so her children didn’t have to, would she? Yes, of course, in a heartbeat. If God asked if He could use her as an instrument to teach others, to change the world one person at a time, would she help, even if it was hard? Yes, she would let God make her an instrument of His work. If God asked, do you trust Me, would she balk? She’d gulp. She’d take a long deep breath. She’d cry a little. But she’d say yes.

Because trusting God is the hardest when you don’t know what His plan is for you. Blind Faith is the deepest faith because it truly means letting go and letting Him be in charge. Letting Him lead you and trusting He is there, He’s got this. It is the truest test of faith, and the deepest love you can give Him.

She knows now that she can do this. Yep it’s going to be scary. And maybe painful. And there are going to be a lot of unknowns. But He knows. And she trusts Him.

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Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the good die young? Why do some people get more than others?

If there is one thing I have learned in hearing many sad stories over the years, it’s that there is no formula for who has more bad luck than others. There is a disproportionate number of tragic things that happen to some people compared to others, with no system for why they “deserve” these things to happen to them. They don’t deserve them. They don’t earn them. Con artists get away with swindles for years, the corrupt get rewarded with success… I’m not cynical or bitter. Just observing that many people feel frustrated by these things especially when faced with their own hardship. And then they ask, WHY?

I don’t have a definitive answer for why. But I do have some observations…

The people we emulate across time, those we respect, we honor, we quote over and over, have not been the ones who have had it easy. It has been the ones who dealt with hardship and didn’t give up. From Gandhi to Mother Theresa to Oprah Winfrey. Job, Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln. The authors who had their manuscripts rejected 32 times and published it themselves and became hugely successful. The inventors and scientists who used failed experiments to learn from and eventually get it right and change the world. If we all stopped when it got hard, where would the world be?

We don’t always know WHY we are going through something at the time we are going through it. The heroes listed above probably had no idea of the far-reaching effect their words and actions would impact the world. You don’t know how something you are going through now is setting the stage for something important in the future or precluded you from something worse. If you are in a hurry and get a flat tire, you may be irritated and grumbling at the delay. But what you don’t know is that if the flat hadn’t happened you might have crossed the path of a semi swerving in your lane and had it much worse. If you smile at a stranger in line at the store, to you it may be nothing but to them it may be the one thing that kept them alive today. No kidding!

When I was a kid we had great times and not so great times. (Didn’t everyone?) I remember the angst of a teen, crying, sobbing, thinking things would never get better, this is the worst-thing-ever. But now I know that the struggles I faced back then have all contributed to my helping others now, to have empathy for others and for them to feel I can connect (and hopefully make a difference). There is a common theme in literature and religion and life. Call it Karma, or the balance of the Tao; the Golden Rule or Pay it Forward. It seems even with theoretical differences most people believe there is a higher order that keeps the universe in “balance”. The biggest challenge is remembering that in the moment.

“Blind Faith” is an ACTION that is most challenged when we need to have it the most. Believing that even though what I’m going through right now sucks, some day I’ll understand why. Or if I never do, TRUSTING that it is for the best, even though it really doesn’t feel like it right now. Being open to this concept is the first step. The second is being open and creative enough to see the connection when it is presented. Avoid tunnel vision and try to look at the big picture, the journey and how the little miracles all around us don’t just happen on their own, but are intricately connected to everything that came before and all that will come after. We won’t always know why. Sometimes the answer is, Just Cuz.